F’n good days ahead

My blog has needed direction for quite some time now. So I have finally decided that from now on, I’m going to have a schedule! Yay for planning and scheduling and themes for inspiration! Here’s how it’s gonna go down:

Theme for Mondays: Faith and Funnies– since Monday’s are generally the worst day of the week, I figured we could all use a little fuel from God and a laugh or three to start the week off. And some coffee of course, but you’re on your own for that one…

Theme for Tuesdays: Farming– I’m really only throwing this one in here because it’s my major and I feel like utilizing it in one way or another. So this will force me to research agriculture and stay up to date with my degree. And I will get to post some pretty cool pics that Alex and I take around the farms…

Theme for Wednesdays: Food and Fitness– Now that I have my own place- yep, that’s right!- I am trying out new recipes that I will share and rate. And along with most women in the universe, I’m always trying to shrink a jean size so I’ll try to report on fitness trends or what I’m doing that seems to work…or not.

Theme for Fridays: Fashion and Fun– I am a hopeless romantic and always get way too overly excited about anything worth doing- so I’ll post about events for the weekend or the following week, along with some styling, fashion, or decorating digs that might come in handy for all occasions!

The other days of the week I will use for my “fuel” days for material…I might throw in some “freebies”…(by that I mean random tid bits that are off topic but I feel like blogging about anyways- I’m poor…don’t expect anything for free from me. Especially since I’m paying for my own place these days…)
See what I did there? I used alliteration for my themes! Faith, funnies, food, fitness, farming, fashion, fun, fuel, freebies! A theme for a theme! A F’n good” theme! <<< (that was me getting too excited again…sorry. Will try to contain myself.)

Here goes my first Wednesday:

As I said, I am in my own place now. And because of this, I am trying to eat healthier. After living with family of 8 for the last 8 months, there was never a shortage of food (or junk food) in the house. It was easy to open the cabinet and find Oreos, Little Debbies, Golden Flake (my favorite) BBQ chips…basically carb heaven.

In college I always lived with girls. And girls (especially college girls) are always watching what they eat. Occasionally we would bring “goodies” into the house, but they never stayed long. One week my roommates and I had been “overly deprived” of sweets (or so we thought) and extremely hormonal, so what better way to treat ourselves than to use our cut-out coupon for a discounted ice cream cake at Culvers. We brought the choclately-goodness home and ate nearly the whole thing picnic style in our front yard. After that, we swore off bringing sweets to the house….for a little while at least.

The refrigerator in my house currently resembles the ones my roommates and I stocked in college: lite this and low-fat that…with the exception of a few unhealthy choices that are staples simply because I need them. And because I’m afraid that I will scare Alex off if I make him eat only girly foods.
I told him I would cook him dinner last night and he chose spaghetti…”how in the world am I supposed to make this healthy?” I thought. I considered whole grain noodles but mom said sometimes they taste bad. Fortunately I came across spaghetti squash. You can bake, boil, or microwave them until they are soft enough to fork out the stringy insides that much resemble noodles!

My squash was too big for my baking dish so I quartered it and poked holes all in the skin. Then I covered and baked it for about an hour at 375. I tossed out the seeds and pulp and then started raking out the “noodles”. I was wary at first but they are actually good! Honestly, spaghetti is all about the sauce- noodles are more or less a vessel to get the sauce from the plate to your mouth and don’t have much flavor. The spaghetti squash noodles were very comparable to real noodles in terms of the way they feel in your mouth, and they honestly didn’t have much taste. I cut up extra veggies to put in my spaghetti sauce and it seemed like the squash noodles amplified the flavor of the sauce. Alex ate regular noodles, but he tried the squash noodles and even admitted that they were good! Overall, this was a win! Ps- I put  lean ground turkey in the sauce instead of beef….so technically Alex still ate healthier, despite his decision to eat real noodles. Shhh!

Two other healthier options that I added to the menu were garlic cheesy “bread” made out of cauliflower and “diet” chocolate chip cookies. (I posted the recipes below.) The cauliflower bread was good but it crumbled apart easily. It was still worth it to tell myself I was eating garlic cheesy bread with my spaghetti—both of which were carb-free! The cookies were good in my opinion, however Alex only ate one. (Here’s your sign…) So note to women cooking for men: maybe you should save this recipe for yourself instead!

Cauliflower Garlic Cheesy Bread
¼ of a large head of cauliflower “riced”, about 1.5 cups (I don’t even know what a ricer is so I cut the florets off, boiled them, drained them, then beat the heck out of them—this was really messy. Stinky, boiled cauliflower all over my kitchen. Next time I’ll use a blender or chopper.)
1 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (I didn’t have garlic so I used a bunch of garlic powder. Still tasted good.)
1 large egg (white), lightly beaten
½ cup mozzarella cheese
½ tsp. dried Italian herb seasoning
Marinara Sauce for dipping (I dipped it in spaghetti sauce, though marinara would have been better…close enough)

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9×5” loaf pan with parchment paper and spray (and spray some more) it with cooking spray. (I didn’t have parchment paper so I sprayed foil…I had to scraped under it several times to get it off the foil but it worked….)
While that is cooking, heat the oil in a small skillet over low heat and add your garlic until softened. When your cauliflower is softened, add the garlic mixture, lightly beaten egg white, Italian seasonings, and 3/4 of the mozzarella. (I added all the mozzarella.) Stir and mix well, then spread onto your prepared pan.
Bake until they start to turn golden brown; about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the loaf over so the bottom side is now on top and add the remaining (more) cheese and a sprinkle more of the Italian herb seasoning. Bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

Diet Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar…mostly because it had the word “light” which I mistook to mean that it was a “lighter” version in the sense of calories and fat, not in color or flavor..oops)
3/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil (I used olive oil because I didn’t feel like going to the store to look for coconut oil)
1 pastured organic egg, lightly beaten (organic-shmorganic)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of steel cut oats (again I didn’t feel like going to the store so I pulled out a pouch of my quick serve Quaker Oats- brown sugar and cinnamon flavor- and they worked wonderfully!)
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (I used regular all purpose flour….)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (obviously this is optional…so I opted not to add them since I didn’t have any…)
3/4 cup semi-sweet dark mini chocolate chips (I may or may not have added a little more…)

I can’t find the original recipe I used…I just have the paper on which I wrote the ingredients, but basically mix it all up and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of my delicious diet chocolate chip cookies to share, but I do have some leftover (since I’m the only one eating them) if you’d like to come try some! I did however snap a pic of my carb-free spaghetti dinner last night:

Spaghetti squash noodles, garlic cheesy cauliflower bread on seperate plate at the top…don’t you love my silverware!?

As for a not-so-healthy but exciting and interesting way to kick start your day, may I introduce you to the “suicide cereal bowl”, not to be confused with the ever-popular “suicide soda”, of which I still indulge on the occasion….

props to Alex for the idea

That’s all for this Wednesday! Tune in tomorrow for the Farming edition!

Love always,

Addie

“Life itself is the proper binge.” –Julia Child

may we be them

I try not to get too involved in politics. Which is weird since policy was one of my favorite classes in college. Regardless, I have never been right or left, blue or red. I basically just listen to the public knowledge and go with my gut when voting. Probably not the most responsible thing to do as a citizen with an opinion that actually counts, but at least I make my stand one way or another. I have my views that I stand by regardless of where this country is headed and I hope that everyone else has their own as well. That’s what this country is about- being a “melting pot”. But I think that some values should be upheld by everyone- like being nice, for instance. Who could seriously come up with an argument against that? Instead of getting up on my soapbox and preaching all about my views and my values and me, me, me, I’d just like to share two clips from recent media that I thoroughly enjoyed and firmly stand by.

“I didn’t just grow up. I was taught to speak when I enter a room, say ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ to have respect for my elders and to get up off my lazy butt and let the elder in the room have my chair. Say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’, lend a helping hand to those in need. Hold the door for the person behind me, say ‘excuse me’ when it’s needed and to love people for who they are and not for what I can get from them. I was also taught to treat people he way I want to be treated.” -Unknown

I am proud that I too was “raised.” All too often people give excuses to the way we treat one another. “Chivalry is dead.” “It’s a Southern thing.” Well I am here to tell you- chivalry is not dead and it does NOT only exist in the South. I will claim to be a Southern girl until the day that I die but regardless of my own upbringing, I am still a Missouri native…And most people don’t considered Missouri to be a part of the South. Guess what? My dad holds doors open. My brother says “yes mam.” And Lord knows my momma tried her damnedest to teach me some manners. The truth is that is doesn’t matter where you’re from or what year it is, we should still all have respect for one another.

Now for a more political stand point from the one and only, Bill Cosby:

“I’m 83. Except for brief period in the 50’s when I was doing my National
Service, I’ve worked hard since I was 17. Except for some serious
health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn’t call in sick in nearly
40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my
income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as
though retirement was a bad idea, and I’m tired. Very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth” to people who
don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take
the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy
to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I
can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and
daughters for their family “honor”; of Muslims rioting over some slight
offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t
“believers”; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning
teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; of Muslims mutilating the
genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and
Shari’a law tells them to.

I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques
and Madrasa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia , New Zealand ,
UK, America and Canada , while no one from these countries are allowed to
fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other
Arab country to teach love and tolerance..

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global
warming, which no one is allowed to debate.

I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help
support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ
rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses
or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all
parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful
mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting
caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

I’m really tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and
actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination
or big-whatever for their problems.

I’m also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and
early 20’s be-deck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making
themselves unemployable and claiming money from the Government.

Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 83.. Because, mostly, I’m not
going to have to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for
my granddaughters and their children. Thank God I’m on the way out and not
on the way in.”

I think this impacted me more because the topics I generally associate with Bill Cosby are funny…or Jello. I didn’t find anything about this funny, but rather saddening. Nevertheless, he covered it all pretty darn well.

Speaking of media, did anyone happen to see the football game that interrupted Beyonce’s concert on Sunday night?! Clearly New Orleans was in fact, not “ready for this jelly” cause Queen B shot out the lights. Whoa.

Favorite commercials? I will admit that I was a little busy stuffing my face and socializing to watch the entirety of the Super Bowl coverage but I do have two favorites. And you along with 15 million other Americans can probably guess which ones they are.
Drum roll please…..

Of course I would have to pick the horse one. It made me cry. Literally cry during one of the most testosterone-filled events of the year. And I loved it.

And of course I’m a sucker for anything agriculture related, given that it’s made my entire life revolve for the last (almost) 23 years. The 30-second commercial took my heart home to my family and made me proud…also made me pat dear ole Alex on the back to remind him of how proud I am of all that he does. May we know them, may we raise them, may we be them- God bless the farmers. And God bless Dodge for having the guts to proclaim their faith by repeating the word “God” in their paramount moment.

Dad, Spence, Alex and I had the pleasure of going on a luxe duck hunt two weekends ago thanks to HBK seed and Bayer Crop Science. It was a lot of cold an early, both of which I don’t typically fair well, but we had a great time at Wildlife Farms and would all highly recommend it to anyone. Because it was the end of the season, the ducks had gotten smart and were few and far between, but we did get a few kills. On the second morning out, while sitting in the blind, I realized something that I have heard before but never paid much attention to: silence. When you first get settled into the blind everything seems silent. Not a sound. But once your ears get adjusted to the quiet after the short boat ride and clatter of climbing into the floating lair, you begin to hear everything. Birds chirping, squirrels doing what I can only deem as screaming at one another, trees crackling, water lapping against the shore and rippling under the wind, the wind…things that I wasn’t initially paying attention to and had forgotten to notice. Once I was still enough, they made their presence known and it became almost loud again. It reminded me of Psalm 46:10, “be still and know that I am God.” Often we are moving so much in our lives and forget what’s really important. But if we sit still long enough and just listen, we can hear God through it all.

Everyone please say a quick prayer for Nan and Papa as they travel to Washington to visit Nan’s sister and her family. Fortunately, if they get lost we’ll know where to find them….

Nan and Papa do Mardi Gras!

Also, I have a Barron’s GRE study book if anyone is interested in buying it…message me for details. Just sayin.

Love always,

Addie

“I believe that Paul admonishes wives to respect their husbands because he knew that after years of mistakes, poor choices, wrong decisions, and smelly socks, respect may not come naturally for a wife. It may well take an act of obedience empowered by the Holy Spirit within.”- Girlfriends in God daily devotional (….was too funny not to share!)